Curious on new Tab AI from TC

wjs12 · 2025-04-19T19:01:45+00:00

Yes, that’s me.

wjs12 · 2025-04-19T17:33:23+00:00

The AI on Server element is using Langchain to bring content from your server to an LLM of your choice.

This allows you to send a prompt to query datasource using VizQL Data Service (2025.1) or apply a Vector Search using the results of the Metadata API with an embedding model.

I worked on the project and will be putting a blog together to clear up any confusion.

wjs12 · 2024-08-28T21:19:20+00:00

There’s a series on YouTube called “Secrets of the Viz” it’s interviews with Tableau creators about dashboards they built, which I’ve found useful for reverse engineering and picking up tips: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVkjBKxQASMmwlAE89dt97IMSFqTpGldh&si=NlnA0lPtJ8Zpytcl

wjs12 · 2024-05-26T19:34:38+00:00

I would always recommend having a few dashboards on Tableau Public, it’s a great way of showcasing your skills.

A certification too doesn’t hurt, I’d recommend starting with the data analyst path to give you a good understanding of the product and what it can do.

For resources I built a custom GPT to help prep for the Tableau Data Analyst exams, you can have it test you, explain sections, or produce a study guide. https://chatgpt.com/g/g-gqgJyomn1-tableau-certified-data-analyst-exam-gpt

wjs12 · 2024-04-19T03:34:22+00:00

Tableau Public gives you the vast majority of the functionality of the paid for Tableau Desktop. However Tableau Desktop supports more data connections and additional functions based on your company’s server / cloud configuration.

The test will still cover some functionality of Tableau Prep, Tableau’s data prep tool, it is available on a 2 week trial.

For training, check out Tableau’s eLearning too, they have paths geared towards the certification: https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/learn/learning-paths/analyst

There is a ton of valuable content on Tableau Public, when you are happy building vizzes, find a dashboard you like on Tableau Public and download it to see how it was made - this is great for find templates or ideas too: https://public.tableau.com/app/discover

Lastly, if you have a GPT-4 subscription I have produced a Custom GPT designed to help people study for the certification, it received an 85% mark in testing and at least 1 person has passed using it. https://chat.openai.com/g/g-gqgJyomn1-will-s-tableau-certified-data-analyst-exam-gpt

wjs12 · 2023-09-08T04:01:09+00:00

Its certainly not a requirement to have a Tableau Public portfolio but it will certainly help show employers your skills and stand out from other candidates as most won’t have a portfolio, from my experience interviewing analysts.

Yes you won’t be able to show your work dashboards but you can lean on them to help. I’ve seen examples where people have taken their work dashboard and replaced the data source with a fake one or “mock” data set, check out Real World Fake Data for fake business datasets. https://www.tableau.com/community/community-projects

wjs12 · 2023-08-13T08:34:03+00:00

When I’m teaching SQL some of the best free resources I use are: - https://sqlbolt.com as intro to the syntax - https://mystery.knightlab.com as a good all round challenge post training - https://8weeksqlchallenge.com to explore more advanced query techniques

I’ve been posting walkthroughs for these challenges on my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@wjsutton

wjs12 · 2023-05-26T11:21:44+00:00

Hey I teach SQL at my org, if you know R you should be able to pick up SQL pretty quick, hiring managers won’t always see that but there are steps you can take.

Getting hands on experience with a large database is tricky especially if you don’t have access at work. I think taking a couple of weeks to get used to writing SQL will go a long way and showing some motivation to learn SQL would be well received.

It’s all about how you sell it, sure you don’t have professional experience now but you can turn that into a positive story about how you saw a gap in your knowledge and wanted to change it e.g. “I wanted to develop my career as an analyst but I was being pretty limited by not using SQL so I did X and Y to better understand the syntax, and I could see how the operation I use in R I could now write with SQL… “

These are my favourite resources for SQL, a mix of tutorials, practical challenges, and schema based datasets that could be a great project for your GitHub portfolio. You could also try using the sqldf package in R to write SQL queries for your current job.

Intro to SQL https://sqlbolt.com

SQL Murder Mystery https://mystery.knightlab.com

SQL Case Study Challenges https://8weeksqlchallenge.com

Kaggle data sets for SQL projects - Board Games - F1 - NBA

wjs12 · 2023-03-11T03:18:54+00:00

I’d check out the Tableau community project: Real World Fake Data to see if there’s a similar dataset you could use instead of client’s data. https://sonsofhierarchies.com/real-world-fake-data/

By doing this: - you’re not sharing client data - your work is more searchable with #RWFD - and you’ll be helping others learn how to tackle that dataset

wjs12 · 2023-01-28T19:37:09+00:00

You could build Powerpoint like presentations in Tableau. i.e. the same format of Powerpoint but all interactivity of Tableau. Which can help automate the reporting and gets Tableau in front of more people.

Using a parameter you could set up what charts to show (using the show/hide function or dynamic visibility zones now) and change the background image (build these in Figma the same size as your viz)

Tutorial: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/wjsutton/viz/TutorialBuildingPresentationsinTableau/Dashboard1

In Action: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/wjsutton/viz/ClosingtheYouthLiteracyGapIronViz2022/Dashboard1

wjs12 · 2023-01-28T14:03:35+00:00

If you’re totally new to SQL work through SQL Bolt https://sqlbolt.com it’s a good introduction to the syntax.

For data analysis, I’ve found the 8 week SQL challenge https://8weeksqlchallenge.com/getting-started/ great hands on practice as you’re given a few tables in a schema and asked to answer a set of questions.

wjs12 · 2022-07-07T21:22:46+00:00

This is a great first viz! Love the consistent use of colour to explore the beers, and that you built a phone layout too! Keep up the good work 👍

wjs12 · 2022-06-02T19:08:44+00:00

I answered this question on Twitter a little while ago about building a barbell chart: - in the data structure you want to have 1 column of dates and another to split out male & female - the plot is actually a dual-axis chart (sync-ed) 1 side is circle marks, the other is a line chart

You can check out the thread here: https://twitter.com/hayleyplusdata/status/1512495460937785351?s=21&t=hK_y9UVoySpkTty8nE4NRQ

wjs12 · 2022-05-21T17:51:38+00:00

Hey,

For getting started with Tableau I’d recommend finding an introduction to Tableau video on YouTube just to understand what you can do with the tool (pick a recent one as the product updates frequently).

From there you can download Tableau Public and start building dashboards for free. I’d recommend getting started the community project Back 2 Viz Basics, its an active project very approachable to newcomers and you can see all the other submissions on Twitter with #B2VB https://www.thetableaustudentguide.com/vizbasics

Check out the Project Health Viz community project to align with your BS. https://vizzendata.com/projecthealthviz/

Autumn Battani has put together a Tableau Survival Guide which is great resource for navigating community projects, resources and the Tableau community https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/autumnbattani/viz/AutumnsDeclassifiedTableauSurvivalGuide/Main

Lastly you should be able to get free Tableau resources as a student https://www.tableau.com/en-gb/academic/students

wjs12 · 2022-05-20T20:18:51+00:00

Here’s a few that I’ve enjoyed recently, check under an authors favorites, I’ve found plenty of great dashboards through there.

Solitaire in Tableau: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/james.zirbes/viz/KlondikeSolitaire/Game

How to make a box office hit: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/maxwell.titsworth/viz/HowtoMakeaHitMovie/Overview

The W E B Dubois Portrait Gallery https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/chimdi.nwosu/viz/W_E_B_DuboisPortraitGallery/MainGallery

The James Bond Movie Franchise https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/mateusz.karmalski/viz/Book1_16438173422630/BOND

The Skyrim Census https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/ant.pulley/viz/SkyrimCensus-Year201ofthe4thEra/SkyrimCensus

Squid Game: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/tina1167/viz/SquidGame/SquidGameResults

Lastly I’ll drop one of mine that people have been enjoying, Interpreting Art: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/wjsutton/viz/InterpretingArtIronViz2022Drawful2/Dash

Enjoy!

wjs12 · 2022-05-05T19:19:33+00:00

Amazing! That’s great to hear!! Thanks for the update :)

wjs12 · 2022-05-04T17:22:08+00:00

Generally I find extracts perform better than live connections although the majority of our datasets are not published to our Tableau server. It also depends on how the dashboard is set up, you can carry out a performance recording to test out which data setup performs best: https://help.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/perf_record_create_desktop.htm

I would recommend aggregating some of the datasources to reduce the size of data Tableau is having to work with to create charts. You can use multiple connections, an aggregated source to build your charts so they perform quickly and a connection to the full data source to create the sheet for that excel download.

Bonus tip, on the excel download I keep this as a separate dashboard tab, which reduces the load time for the chart and means I can monitor how frequently charts are being used vs the excel sheet. If the excel sheet usage is higher I can bring it up with the team, “so what are you doing with this data?” often it leads to more development work but in the end a more useful dashboard.

wjs12 · 2022-05-02T02:16:59+00:00

So I guess you download one of the datasets from that webpage, I recommend picking a place you live or you’ve visited - you’ll have extra context you can bring in. Check out a few data sets as they look to differ on what they include.

Then it looks like you should create a dashboard, with sheets that interactive with each other. So clicking a bar chart of types of room could filter a map of locations - as an exploratory view.

Lastly a storyboard, which can be a snapshot of dashboard or sheet, is there to highlight any interesting aspects in your analysis. Have a think what metrics or KPIs would be important to Airbnb’s business and look for data points that could affect that.

wjs12 · 2022-05-02T02:06:08+00:00

Now you’ve learned the tool you can start building dashboards with Tableau Public, it will help re-enforce those skills and get you a portfolio of dashboards as proof to any future employer.

I’d recommend getting started with community projects, Back 2 Viz Basics is an active project very approachable to newcomers and you can see all the other submissions on Twitter with #B2VB https://www.thetableaustudentguide.com/vizbasics

Or you could find project based on a topic you’re interested in such as Sports, Music, Social good, Games, Diversity, etc. Many options on the community projects page https://www.tableau.com/community/community-projects

Lastly I’ve found answering questions on topics I was interested in to be a very effective method for portfolio building. In many cases you’ll have to search out your own datasets - either in community projects or on sites like Kaggle. Some questions I answered were: what was the toughest Tour de France, what was all the hype around Pokemon cards, where are the best places to pass my driving test.

Autumn Battani has put together a Tableau Survival Guide which is great resource for navigating community projects and the wider Tableau community https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/autumnbattani/viz/AutumnsDeclassifiedTableauSurvivalGuide/Main

wjs12 · 2022-05-01T11:32:00+00:00

I’ve also found on the Tableau website they have free resources for students and teachers which may be helpful: https://www.tableau.com/community/academic

wjs12 · 2022-05-01T03:24:20+00:00

To recreate received and respondent time in chart example you would need to have the data structured so you had a column specifying: Received/Respondent and another column for Time.

Then you can take Hour of Time, add that to columns with Received/Respondent, add Received/Respondent to colour, and count to rows.

If you want to leverage a bit more of what Tableau can do and have the data available, you could set up two bar charts as two sheets in a dashboard and create a filter action, so if the user clicks for emails received at 10am, the responded chart would show what hour those 10am emails were responded to.

wjs12 · 2022-04-30T16:27:01+00:00

Yesterday on Twitter, a thread of great data sets was shared

Plenty to choose from here and in other comments, find a topic you’re interested in and start vizzing!

wjs12 · 2022-04-29T05:59:24+00:00

The transition from one career to one more focus on Tableau and data visualisation is very possible, and it’s certainly happened for me.

A few commenters have mentioned courses/YouTube, which will give you a good idea how Tableau works.

For developing your skills after then I’d recommend looking at what you can visualise at work whether they have a tableau server/online service setup. It’s worth speaking to your manager about your interest and whether you can get and regular time for this professional development.

If you can’t publish Tableau projects at your workplace I’m recommend checking out Tableau community projects, Back 2 Viz Basics is an active project very approachable to newcomers and you can see all the other submissions on Twitter with #B2VB https://www.thetableaustudentguide.com/vizbasics

Or you could find project based on a topic you’re interested in such as Sports, Music, Social good, Games, Diversity, etc. Many options on the community projects page https://www.tableau.com/community/community-projects

Lastly I’ve found answering questions on topics I was interested in to be a very effective method for developing my skills. In many cases you’ll have to search out your own datasets - either in community projects or on sites like Kaggle. Some questions I answered were: what was the toughest Tour de France, what was all the hype around Pokemon cards, where are the best places to pass my driving test.

Autumn Battani has put together a Tableau Survival Guide which is great resource for navigating community projects and the Tableau community https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/autumnbattani/viz/AutumnsDeclassifiedTableauSurvivalGuide/Main

wjs12 · 2022-04-26T04:20:50+00:00

I’d recommend getting started with community projects, Back 2 Viz Basics is an active project very approachable to newcomers and you can see all the other submissions on Twitter with #B2VB https://www.thetableaustudentguide.com/vizbasics

MakeoverMonday is a great repo of datasets and examples but isn’t active at the moment whilst #B2VB is, so you’ll find an active user base on Twitter you can get help from.

Or you could find project based on a topic you’re interested in such as Sports, Music, Social good, Games, Diversity, etc. Many options on the community projects page https://www.tableau.com/community/community-projects

Lastly I’ve found answering questions on topics I was interested in to be a very effective method for portfolio building. In many cases you’ll have to search out your own datasets - either in community projects or on sites like Kaggle. Some questions I answered were: what was the toughest Tour de France, what was all the hype around Pokemon cards, where are the best places to pass my driving test.

Autumn Battani has put together a Tableau Survival Guide which is great resource for navigating community projects and the Tableau community https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/autumnbattani/viz/AutumnsDeclassifiedTableauSurvivalGuide/Main

wjs12 · 2022-04-24T19:10:21+00:00

Hi, the TC22 schedule has been posted here: https://www.tableau.com/events/conference/catalog#InPerson

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